A 2.7-kilometre section of Bulgaria’s Struma motorway near Simitli has become the focus of a dispute over public spending. Published contract figures put design and construction at €107,889,340.04 including VAT — almost €40 million per kilometre.
The agreement was signed on 6 October with the AM Struma 3.1 consortium. It covers the section between kilometre 373+300 and kilometre 376. The Road Safety Institute is challenging both the price and the use of a negotiated procedure without prior publication.
The institute says earlier market consultations attracted 13 offers and disputes the argument that technical circumstances justified the absence of competition. It also calls for an independent technical assessment and a review of the contract. These are objections by the institute, not findings of wrongdoing by a court.
A per-kilometre figure alone does not establish whether a road is overpriced: structures, terrain and the exact scope of work matter. The central questions are how this budget was calculated and why this procurement route was selected.
Nove.news has not independently obtained the full procurement file or a specific response from the Road Infrastructure Agency to these objections. The reported sum should therefore be read as the subject of a documented public controversy, rather than a completed audit.
